Promotion organisation Design Forum Finland conferred its fourteenth annual award on the 34-year-old shoe-lover for her colourful line of women’s shoes.
“I want to design shoes that are fun, playful, positive and even a little risky,” the winner says. “The kind of shoes that carry their wearers into new adventures. But I believe that shoes are made for walking, so they also have to be durable.”
Parikka, who studied footwear design in England and now runs a firm employing eight people, says that good shoes involve a number of elements that all have to go hand in hand: quality, production, materials and design. Parikka’s shoes are hand-made in Spain and Portugal, and they are on sale in more than 20 countries.
“It’s important to fight stagnation,” she says. “I look at what other people do, but one should never just blindly do what everyone else thinks is trendy.”
The Young Designer of the Year award comes with a grant of 5,000 euros. In addition, the winner’s designs are honoured by being put on display at the Design Forum Showroom on Erottajankatu in Helsinki. This year, Parikka’s creations can be viewed at the gallery starting September 29.